Bella Notte
by siriusondrun
Summary: The post-Prom walk home and the start of something a little bigger. First attempt at Samcedes, because why not.


**Disclaimer: Glee is not mine. My first attempt at Samcedes, because they are made of the cute. :3**

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><p>"I'm just saying it was infinitely more eventful than I could have imagined!" Rachel chattered as the three of them made their way back from prom. Mercedes met Sam's gaze out of the corner of her eye and the two of them shared a "what're you gonna do?" grin before they snickered and had to look away. "Mmm?" Rachel said, head whipping around at light speed to see what was so funny.<p>

"Nothing!" Sam choked a little too quickly mid-chuckle, causing Rachel to quirk an eyebrow to Mercedes. She shrugged.

"I didn't say a thing," she said, trying not to giggle as she readjusted Sam's jacket on her shoulders. She'd protested that Rachel was going to need it more than she did but Sam had gallantly insisted as the ever-oblivious brunette set off out the gymnasium doors at a self-important march. Mercedes had secretly been rather glad to be spared walking uncovered in the early-May cold snap with no sleeves and accepted.

Mercedes hadn't really thought much about Sam Evans before Rachel suggested he be the other member of their odd triangular prom date; he was just kind of the shaggy blond cocky jock on the other side of the choir room that dated pretty skinny girls and got his heart broken a lot. Over the course of the evening, though, it had turned out that Sam was disarmingly normal for how he seemed sometimes. He was something of a ninja-nerd, so to speak: normal outwardly but with more encyclopedic knowledge of random pop culture trivia than Kurt had inside info on the collective history of his vocal range. Even when Sam had verbally gone off without her and made no sense at all the flushed, bright-eyed enthusiasm he had for all of it was strangely endearing.

"Thank you for a lovely evening, Sam," Rachel said with a little curtsey as they reached her porch.

"I think that's my line," Sam said, breaking into his Sean Connery voice and waggling his eyebrows as he bent to kiss her hand. Mercedes tried to remind herself that jealousy was not a flattering color on her as Rachel went pink and turned a grin on her.

"I'm so glad you came, Mercedes!" Rachel gushed, pulling her into an exuberant hug. "It was so much more fun this way, don't you think!" Mercedes patted Rachel on the back and laughed a little at the way it wasn't so much a question as a chirp.

"It was," she agreed, nodding. Rachel nodded back and twirled back around towards the door, looking a bit like a ballerina on shore leave as she swept inside in her bubblegum pink tulle. Mercedes chanced a look over at Sam as the door snapped shut and the two of them finally shared a full-blown laugh.

"She's kind of right, though," Sam admitted once they'd wiped tears away and could breathe again. "That was…something else."

"Yeah," Mercedes agreed, her mind immediately flashing back to her best friend's semi-triumphant prom monarchy. She wasn't sure she really wanted to comment any more on it until she'd gotten the rundown from Kurt; it seemed like kind of an awkward subject to suppose on right now.

"That Blaine guy seems nice," Sam commented, seeming to be valiantly stabbing in the dark for any conversation he could get.

"He's okay," Mercedes said. "Him and Kurt have moments sometimes, but I guess he's not too bad."

Sam nodded, hands sliding into his slacks pockets. He chewed the corner of his bottom lip for a moment before he spoke again. "It's kind of nice to see Kurt that happy," he mused quietly. "I always felt pretty shitty about bailing on him the way I did." Mercedes shot him a perplexed look, wondering if she'd somehow missed something. "For that duets week thing," he clarified. "We were supposed to be partners for it, but he let me off at the last second. I was pretty hung up on Quinn then and I didn't even argue about it. I just…" He trailed off, shrugging as he scuffed the toe of his shoe on the pavement. "I bailed on him and didn't even think about it first."

"He doesn't hold it against you," Mercedes said. Sam's smile was rueful.

"Doesn't mean I don't feel like a douchebag," he said. "It's kinda worse that way, you know? It's like so many people crapped on him for being the gay kid that he just kind of gave up on getting mad at them anymore. Well, other than Karofsky." Mercedes gave him a half-smile and reached out to give Sam's hunched shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "That Blaine guy seems pretty cool, though," Sam added more brightly. "Seems like he'll be good for Kurt."

"He better be," Mercedes said, puffing out her chest in an attempt to lighten the mood. "He hurts my boy and he's gonna find my foot up his ass."

Sam laughed, the sound sharply happy through the momentary tension between them. "I don't doubt it," he said. His eyes danced as he turned his thousand-watt smile on her.

Mercedes felt her cheeks growing hot as she allowed herself to smile back. She liked this Sam, she decided. The at-school, in-glee Sam was kind of a tumbleweed, drifting in and out without much real notice because of how well he blended in with the rest of the guys there. Prom-Sam, though, was sweet and funny and surprisingly deep for someone who had spent the evening doing goofy impressions and dancing the robot. She was still on the fence about whether or not the fact that her knees had gone completely weak when he asked her to dance might have been a factor as well. She wasn't his type, as aggravating as it was, even if his Labrador-like charms were steadily making him hers.

They got to her house and Mercedes had a moment of panic as they stood on her porch. What was she supposed to say now? Rachel had had it easy with all three of them still in the group. Now that it was just Mercedes and Sam it seemed a little too close and personal.

"Here," Mercedes said. She pulled Sam's jacket from her shoulders and handed it to him in order to stall for time. "Thanks for the loan," she added brightly.

"No problem," Sam said, his smile turning a little shy as he folded it over his arm.

Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Mercedes was about to take a step back and head inside when Sam opened his mouth to speak again.

"Um!" he started, fiddling with the ends of his bolo tie. He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the side of his neck awkwardly. "I was just wondering, if. Um. Maybe we… I mean, if you want to, maybe we could go get coffee sometime…?" His tone was jerky and hesitant, eyes too earnest to be real. Mercedes blinked, struck momentarily speechless. Was he serious? He had to be, with that look on his face.

"You're asking me out?" she blurted, heat coming swiftly back into her face.

Sam smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah. If that's okay."

"Oh." Mercedes couldn't help the smile that stretched across her face. "Sure," she said, failing miserably to sound unconcerned. "If you think you can handle me," she added with a laugh.

The electricity of Sam's expression could have powered the world for years. "Awesome," he said, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. "I'll Facebook you my new number."

"Okay," Mercedes said, nodding. "Sounds great." Before she lost her nerve, she stood up on tiptoe and gave Sam a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good night, Sam. Tonight was really great," she said, blushing furiously and hurrying away into her house.

Mercedes did a tiny squeal-and-flail after she was sure the door was shut, then turned to pull the curtain away from the beveled window in the door. Sam stood frozen on the porch, one hand on the cheek she'd kissed. He launched into motion all at once, punching the air and doing a muppetish victory dance back down the driveway and out of sight down the sidewalk. Mercedes waited until he was gone before yanking her phone out of her cleavage and hurrying to her room to call Kurt.


End file.
